Heart Healthy Food: It's KABOB season - Dr. Janet Brill | Heart-Healthy Recipes And Fitness Plans

Heart Healthy Food: It’s KABOB season

Mediterranean Recipes: Kabobs are delicious, heart-healthy and easy to make. — Kabobs are a fun way to get the whole family involved in cooking a heart-healthy meal anytime in a week.

Do you Kabob?

Are you bored of your same old meat and vegetable stir-fry?

Kabobs are a fun way to get the whole family involved in cooking a healthy weekday or weekend meal. Everyone can skew their own kabobs with their favorite meat, vegetables, and fruit before placing them on the grill or baking them in the oven. Skew a rainbow!

Kabob Ideas:

Lean protein (meat and meatless options): shrimp, chicken breast, fillet, scallops, tofu, and tempeh are heart-healthy foods that help in lowering blood pressure.

Vegetables: bell pepper, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, mushrooms, whole cherry tomatoes, and Brussels sprouts. These also form vital ingredients of Mediterranean recipes.

Fruit: pineapple chunks, quartered peaches/nectarines/plums, whole strawberries, and peeled kiwis. Fruits help in reduce cholesterol.

Tropical Kabobs:

Instead of using store brought marinades and BBQ sauces, create your own low sugar, salt-free marinade to brush on your kabobs containing olive oil, lime juice, fresh cilantro, garlic, and various dried herbs and spices.

Ingredients:

Yield: 6 Servings (2 kabobs per serving)

1 lb of meat per recipe:
1/2 lb of raw shrimp and 1/2 lb raw skinless chicken breasts

1 lb of either shrimp or chicken breast
2 large red bell peppers, cut into 1 inch x 1 inch pieces
1 zucchini, cut into thick slices
1 large red onion, cut into 1 inch x 1 inch slices
1 canned of pineapple, chopped (or 2 cups fresh pineapple, cubed)

Kabob Marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil
1 fresh lime squeezed (1/8 cup of lime juice)
1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, minced
3 garlic gloves, minced
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of dried rosemary
2 teaspoons of cracked black pepper
At least 12 skewers

Directions:

If you are grilling your kabobs, soak the wooden skewers in a pan of water for at least a half hour. If you are baking your kabobs, you do not need to soak the wooden skewers.
If grilling, pre-heat grill at 400 F°. If baking, pre-heat oven at 350 F°.
Skew the shrimp, chicken breast, bell pepper, zucchini, red onion, and pineapple onto the wooden sticks. The wooden skewer should pierce the shrimp (facing flat like a number 6) two times. Place assembled kabobs on a large plate or tin pan.
In a small bowl, mix together the marinade ingredients and brush the marinade onto the assembled kabobs.
Grill the kabobs for 10 minutes or bake the kabobs for 35 minutes.

*Cooked chicken turns white and cooked shrimp turns white/pink.

Serve immediately

*Leftovers: disassemble kabobs and refrigerate in a sealed tight container. Reheat shrimp, chicken, vegetables, and pineapple for 2 minute in the microwave. Add warm leftovers to a salad with mixed greens or ½ cup of cooked brown rice.

Nutrition Information per Serving (2 Kabobs):

Shrimp Kabobs